Samarkand Good Vs Evil

A common conflict in books and movies is good vs. evil for example Spiderman vs. Green Goblin (Spider Man), Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader (Star Wars) or Autobots vs. Decepticons (Transformers) rarely is the conflict seen of Evil vs. Evil or Bad vs. Bad characters. In the Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud character Nathaniel is a 12 year old boy and is still innocent and more likeable than character Simon, but a closer look at the actions of Nathaniel reveals he is a troublesome and disobedient child whose actions result in death and mayhem. Hence the conflict between Nathaniel and Simon is not good vs. evil but a power struggle between two defiant and enterprising characters, they both seek to prove their superiority. In the book The

Easy – ambition leaked from his body like a foul smell. The boy was of the ambitious kind as well, but he was still young, unformed” (Stroud) Both Nathaniel and Simon are motivated by ambition. Nathaniel first shows his ambition when he excels in his studies by reading as many books as he can get his hands on, showing his pursuit of knowledge and going above and beyond what it expected of him to learn. Nathaniel shows his ambition again at his name picking. Nathaniel suggests to his master “Is William Gladstone free, sir? I admire him” (Stroud). His master is gobsmacked that he would want to be named after the former famed magician and prime minister. Nathaniel’s master replies “Ambition is all very well, my lad, but you must cloak it…..A magician must not draw attention to himself too soon” (Stroud). Simon also aspires to be like Gladstone “When I use the Amulet next week, I will be following in a grand tradition reaching back to Gladstone.” (Stroud) Both Simon and Nathaniel seek to be the best magicians, but their ambition and quest for power causes them to be deviant against other magicians. Nathaniel is overly ambitious and begins practicing magic and summoning djinni’s before he allowed to, infuriating his master and greatly disappointing Mrs. Underwood his master’s wife. Identically Simon in his quest for power and prestige had the Amulet of Samarkand stolen by an assassin. The assassin killed a senior magician while stealing the Amulet from government keeping. Both characters are willing to disobey rules in order to achieve their goal of being further exceptional